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| Chapter XII.—Doctrine of the rest of the apostles.
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1. The Apostle Peter, therefore, after the
resurrection of the Lord, and His assumption into the heavens, being
desirous of filling up the number of the twelve apostles, and in electing
into the place of Judas any substitute who should be chosen by God, thus
addressed those who were present: “Men [and] brethren, this
Scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost, by the
mouth of David, spake before concerning Judas, which was made guide to
them that took Jesus. For he was numbered with us:3466
… Let his habitation be desolate,
and let no
man dwell therein;3467
and, His bishoprick let
another take;”3468
—thus leading to the
completion of the apostles, according to the words spoken by David.
Again, when the Holy Ghost had descended upon the disciples, that they
all might prophesy and speak with tongues, and some mocked them, as if
drunken with new wine, Peter said that they were not drunken, for it was
the third hour of the day; but that this was what had been spoken by the
prophet: “It shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will
pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh, and they shall
prophesy.”3469
The God, therefore, who did
promise by the prophet, that He would send His Spirit upon the whole
human race, was He who did send; and God Himself is announced by Peter as
having fulfilled His own promise.
2. For Peter said, “Ye men of Israel, hear my
words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved by God among you by powers, and
wonders, and signs, which God did by Him in the midst of you, as ye
yourselves also know: Him, being delivered by the determined counsel and
foreknowledge of God, by the hands of wicked men ye have slain, affixing
[to the cross]: whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of
death; because it was not possible that he should be holden of them. For
David speaketh concerning Him,3470
I foresaw
the Lord always before my face; for He is on my right hand, lest I should
be moved: therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad;
moreover also, my flesh shall rest in hope: because Thou wilt not leave
my soul in hell, neither wilt Thou give Thy Holy One to see
corruption.”3471
Then he proceeds
to speak confidently to them concerning the patriarch David, that he was
dead and buried, and that his sepulchre is with them to this day. He
said, “But since he was a prophet, and knew that God had sworn with
an oath to him, that of the fruit of his body one should sit in his
throne; foreseeing this, he spake of the resurrection of Christ, that He
was not left in hell, neither did His flesh see corruption. This
Jesus,” he said, “hath God raised up, of which we all are
witnesses: who, being exalted by the right hand of God, receiving from
the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, hath shed forth this gift3472
| 3472 The word δῶρον or δώρημα is supposed by
some to have existed in the earliest Greek texts, although not found in
any extant now. It is thus quoted by others besides Irenæus. |
which ye now see and hear. For David has not ascended into the heavens;
but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou
on My right hand, until I make Thy foes Thy footstool. Therefore let all
the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus,
whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.”3473
And when the multitudes exclaimed,
“What shall we do then?” Peter says to them, “Repent,
and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus for the remission of
sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”3474
Thus the apostles did not preach another God,
or another Fulness; nor, that the Christ who suffered and rose again was
one, while he who flew off on high was another, and remained impassible;
but that there was one and the same God the Father, and Christ Jesus who
rose from the dead; and they preached faith in Him, to those who did not
believe on the Son of God, and exhorted them out of the prophets, that
the Christ whom God promised to send, He sent in Jesus, whom they
crucified and God raised up.
3. Again, when Peter, accompanied by John, had looked
upon the man lame from his birth, before that gate of the temple which is
called Beautiful, sitting and seeking alms, he said to him, “Silver
and gold I have none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of
Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And immediately his legs and
his feet received strength; and he walked, and entered with them into the
temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.”3475
Then, when a multitude had gathered around them from all
quarters because of this unexpected deed, Peter addressed them: “Ye
men of Israel, why marvel ye at this; or why look ye so earnestly on us,
as though by our own power we had made this man to walk? The God of
Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers,
hath glorified His Son, whom ye delivered up for judgment,3476
| 3476 These interpolations are also
found in the Codex Bezæ. | and denied in the presence of
Pilate, when he wished to let Him go. But ye were bitterly set
against3477
| 3477 These
interpolations are also found in the Codex Bezæ. | the Holy
One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; but ye
killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead, whereof we
are witnesses. And in the faith of His name, him, whom ye see and know,
hath His name made strong; yea, the faith which is by Him, hath given him
this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. And now, brethren, I
wot that through ignorance ye did this wickedness.3478
| 3478 These interpolations are also found in
the Codex Bezæ. | … But those things which God before
had showed by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ should
suffer, He hath so fulfilled. Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that
your sins may be blotted out, and that3479
| 3479 “Et veniant” in Latin text: ὅπως ἂν ἔλθωσιν in Greek.
The translation of these Greek words by “when … come,”
is one of the most glaring errors in the authorized English version.
| the times of refreshing
may come to you from the
presence of the Lord; and He shall send Jesus Christ, prepared for you
beforehand,3480
| 3480 Irenæus,
like the majority of the early authorities, manifestly read προκεχειρισμένον
instead of προκεκηρυγμένον,
as in textus receptus. | whom the heaven must indeed
receive until the times of the arrangement3481
of all things,
of which God hath spoken by His holy prophets. For Moses truly said unto
our fathers, Your Lord God shall raise up to you a Prophet from your
brethren, like unto me; Him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever He
shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass, that every soul, whosoever
will not hear that Prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people. And
all [the prophets] from Samuel, and henceforth, as many as have spoken,
have likewise foretold of these days. Ye are the children of the
prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying
unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be
blessed. Unto you first, God, having raised up His Son, sent Him blessing
you, that each may turn himself from his iniquities.”3482
Peter, together with John, preached to
them this plain message of glad tidings, that the promise which God made
to the fathers had been fulfilled by Jesus; not certainly proclaiming
another god, but the Son of God, who also was made man, and suffered;
thus leading Israel into knowledge, and through Jesus preaching the
resurrection of the dead,3483
and
showing, that whatever the prophets had proclaimed as to the suffering of
Christ, these had God fulfilled.
4. For this reason, too, when the chief priests were
assembled, Peter, full of boldness, said to them, “Ye rulers of the
people, and elders of Israel, if we this day be examined by you of the
good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he has been made whole;
be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name
of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the
dead, even by Him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the
stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the
head-stone of the corner. [Neither is there salvation in any other: for]
there is none other name under heaven, which is given to men, whereby we
must be saved:”3484
Thus the apostles did
not change God, but preached to the people that Christ was Jesus the
crucified One, whom the same God that had sent the prophets, being God
Himself, raised up, and gave in Him salvation to men.
5. They were confounded, therefore, both by this
instance of healing (“for the man was above forty years old on whom
this miracle of healing took place”3485
), and by
the doctrine of the apostles, and by the exposition of the prophets, when
the chief priests had sent away Peter and John. [These latter] returned
to the rest of their fellow-apostles and disciples of the Lord, that is,
to the Church, and related what had occurred, and how courageously they
had acted in the name of Jesus. The whole Church, it is then said,
“when they had heard that, lifted up the voice to God with one
accord, and said, Lord, Thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth,
and the sea, and all that in them is; who, through the Holy Ghost,3486
| 3486 These words, though not in
textus receptus, are found in some ancient mss. and versions; but not the
words “our father,” which follow. | by the mouth of
our father David, Thy servant, hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and
the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the
rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against His Christ.
For of a truth, in this city,3487
| 3487 “In hac civitate” are words not represented
in the textus receptus, but have a place in all modern critical
editions of the New Testament. | against Thy holy Son Jesus,
whom Thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the
Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, to do
whatsoever Thy hand and Thy counsel determined before to be
done.”3488
These [are the] voices
of the Church from which every Church had its origin; these are the
voices of the metropolis of the citizens of the new covenant; these are
the voices of the apostles; these are voices of the disciples of the
Lord, the truly perfect, who, after the assumption of the Lord, were
perfected by the Spirit, and called upon the God who made heaven, and
earth, and the sea,—who was announced by the prophets,—
and Jesus Christ His Son, whom God anointed, and who knew no other [God].
For at that time and place there was neither Valentinus, nor Marcion, nor
the rest of these subverters [of the truth], and their adherents.
Wherefore God, the Maker of all things, heard them. For it is said,
“The place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they
were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with
boldness”3489
to every one that was
willing to believe.3490
| 3490 The
Latin is, “ut convertat se unusquisque.” |
“And with great power,” it is added, “gave the apostles
witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus,”3491
saying to them, “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus,
whom ye seized and slew, hanging [Him] upon a beam of wood: Him hath God
raised up by His right hand3492
| 3492 This is following Grabe’s emendation of the text.
The old Latin reads “gloria sua,” the translator having
evidently mistaken δεξιᾴ for
δόξῃ. | to
be a Prince and Saviour, to give repentance to Israel, and
forgiveness of sins. And we are in this witnesses of these
words; as also is the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that
believe in Him.”3493
“And daily,” it
is said, “in the temple, and from house to house, they ceased not
to teach and preach Christ Jesus,”3494
the Son of
God. For this was the knowledge of salvation, which renders those who
acknowledge His Son’s advent perfect towards God.
6. But as some of these men impudently assert that the
apostles, when preaching among the Jews, could not declare to them
another god besides Him in whom they (their hearers3495
| 3495 These words have apparently been omitted
through inadvertence. | ) believed, we say to them, that if the
apostles used to speak to people in accordance with the opinion instilled
into them of old, no one learned the truth from them, nor, at a much
earlier date, from the Lord; for they say that He did Himself speak after
the same fashion. Wherefore neither do these men themselves know the
truth; but since such was their opinion regarding God, they had just
received doctrine as they were able to hear it. According to this manner
of speaking, therefore, the rule of truth can be with nobody; but all
learners will ascribe this practice to all [teachers], that just as every
person thought, and as far as his capability extended, so was also the
language addressed to him. But the advent of the Lord will appear
superfluous and useless, if He did indeed come intending to tolerate and
to preserve each man’s idea regarding God rooted in him from of
old. Besides this, also, it was a much heavier task, that He whom the
Jews had seen as a man, and had fastened to the cross, should be preached
as Christ the Son of God, their eternal King. Since this, however, was
so, they certainly did not speak to them in accordance with their old
belief. For they, who told them to their face that they were the slayers
of the Lord, would themselves also much more boldly preach that Father
who is above the Demiurge, and not what each individual bid himself
believe [respecting God]; and the sin was much less, if indeed they had
not fastened to the cross the superior Saviour (to whom it behoved them
to ascend), since He was impassible. For, as they did not speak to the
Gentiles in compliance with their notions, but told them with boldness
that their gods were no gods, but the idols of demons; so would they in
like manner have preached to the Jews, if they had known another greater
or more perfect Father, not nourishing nor strengthening the untrue
opinion of these men regarding God. Moreover, while destroying the error
of the Gentiles, and bearing them away from their gods, they did not
certainly induce another error upon them; but, removing those which were
no gods, they pointed out Him who alone was God and the true Father.
7. From the words of Peter, therefore, which he
addressed in Cæsarea to Cornelius the centurion, and those Gentiles with
him, to whom the word of God was first preached, we can understand what
the apostles used to preach, the nature of their preaching, and their
idea with regard to God. For this Cornelius was, it is said, “a
devout man, and one who feared God with all his house, giving much alms
to the people, and praying to God always. He saw therefore, about the
ninth hour of the day, an angel of God coming in to him, and saying,
Thine alms are come up for a memorial before God. Wherefore send to
Simon, who is called Peter.”3496
But
when Peter saw the vision, in which the voice from heaven said to him,
“What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common,”3497
this happened [to teach him] that the God who
had, through the law, distinguished between clean and unclean, was He who
had purified the Gentiles through the blood of His Son—He whom
also Cornelius worshipped; to whom Peter, coming in, said, “Of a
truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: but in every
nation, he that feareth Him, and worketh righteousness, is acceptable to
Him.”3498
He thus clearly
indicates, that He whom Cornelius had previously feared as God, of whom
he had heard through the law and the prophets, for whose sake also he
used to give alms, is, in truth, God. The knowledge of the Son was,
however, wanting to him; therefore did [Peter] add, “The word, ye
know, which was published throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee,
after the baptism which John preached, Jesus of Nazareth, how God
anointed Him with the Holy Ghost, and with power; who went about doing
good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with
Him. And we are witnesses of all those things which He did both in the
land of the Jews and in Jerusalem; whom they slew, hanging Him on a beam
of wood: Him God raised up the third day, and showed Him openly; not to
all the people, but unto us, witnesses chosen before of God, who did eat
and drink with Him after the resurrection from the dead. And He commanded
us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is He which was
ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead. To Him give all the
prophets witness, that, through His name, every one that believeth in Him
does receive remission of sins.”3499
The apostles, therefore, did preach the Son of God, of whom men were
ignorant; and His advent, to those
who had been already
instructed as to God; but they did not bring in another god. For if Peter
had known any such thing, he would have preached freely to the Gentiles,
that the God of the Jews was indeed one, but the God of the Christians
another; and all of them, doubtless, being awe-struck because of the
vision of the angel, would have believed whatever he told them. But it is
evident from Peter’s words that he did indeed still retain the God
who was already known to them; but he also bare witness to them that
Jesus Christ was the Son of God, the Judge of quick and dead, into whom
he did also command them to be baptized for the remission of sins; and
not this alone, but he witnessed that Jesus was Himself the Son of God,
who also, having been anointed with the Holy Spirit, is called Jesus
Christ. And He is the same being that was born of Mary, as the testimony
of Peter implies. Can it really be, that Peter was not at that time as
yet in possession of the perfect knowledge which these men discovered
afterwards? According to them, therefore, Peter was imperfect, and the
rest of the apostles were imperfect; and so it would be fitting that
they, coming to life again, should become disciples of these men, in
order that they too might be made perfect. But this is truly ridiculous.
These men, in fact, are proved to be not disciples of the apostles, but
of their own wicked notions. To this cause also are due the various
opinions which exist among them, inasmuch as each one adopted error just
as he was capable3500
| 3500
Quemadmodum capiebat; perhaps, “just as it presented itself
to him.” | [of embracing it]. But the Church throughout
all the world, having its origin firm from the apostles, perseveres in
one and the same opinion with regard to God and His Son.
8. But again: Whom did Philip preach to the eunuch of
the queen of the Ethiopians, returning from Jerusalem, and reading Esaias
the prophet, when he and this man were alone together? Was it not He of
whom the prophet spoke: “He was led as a sheep to the slaughter,
and as a lamb dumb before the shearer, so He opened not the mouth?”
“But who shall declare His nativity? for His life shall be taken
away from the earth.”3501
[Philip declared] that this was Jesus, and
that the Scripture was fulfilled in Him; as did also the believing eunuch
himself: and, immediately requesting to be baptized, he said, “I
believe Jesus Christ to be the Son of God.”3502
This man was also sent into the regions of Ethiopia, to preach
what he had himself believed, that there was one God preached by the
prophets, but that the Son of this [God] had already made [His]
appearance in human nature (secundum hominem), and had been led as
a sheep to the slaughter; and all the other statements which the prophets
made regarding Him.
9. Paul himself also—after that the Lord spoke
to him out of heaven, and showed him that, in persecuting His disciples,
he persecuted his own Lord, and sent Ananias to him that he might recover
his sight, and be baptized—“preached,” it is said,
“Jesus in the synagogues at Damascus, with all freedom of speech,
that this is the Son of God, the Christ.”3503
This is the mystery which he says was made known to him by
revelation, that He who suffered under Pontius Pilate, the same is Lord
of all, and King, and God, and Judge, receiving power from Him who is the
God of all, because He became “obedient unto death, even the death
of the cross.”3504
And inasmuch as this is
true, when preaching to the Athenians on the Areopagus—where, no
Jews being present, he had it in his power to preach God with freedom of
speech—he said to them: “God, who made the world, and all
things therein, He, being Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in
temples made with hands; neither is He touched3505
| 3505 Latin translation, tractatur;
which Harvey thinks affords a conclusive proof that Irenæus occasionally
quotes Scripture by re-translating from the Syriac. | by
men’s hands, as though He needed anything, seeing He giveth to all
life, and breath, and all things; who hath made from one blood the whole
race of men to dwell upon the face of the whole earth,3506
| 3506 It will be observed that Scripture is
here very loosely quoted. | predetermining the times according
to the boundary of their habitation, to seek the Deity, if by any means
they might be able to track Him out, or find Him, although He be not far
from each of us. For in Him we live, and move, and have our being, as
certain men of your own have said, For we are also His offspring.
Inasmuch, then, as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think
that the Deity is like unto gold or silver, or stone graven by art or
man’s device. Therefore God, winking at the times of ignorance,
does now command all men everywhere to turn to Him with repentance;
because He hath appointed a day, on which the world shall be judged in
righteousness by the man Jesus; whereof He hath given assurance by
raising Him from the dead.”3507
Now
in this passage he does not only declare to them God as the Creator of
the world, no Jews being present, but that He did also make one race of
men to dwell upon all the earth; as also Moses declared: “When the
Most High divided the nations, as He scattered the sons of Adam, He set
the bounds of the nations after the number of the angels of
God;”3508
but
that people which believes in God is not now under the power of
angels, but under the Lord’s [rule]. “For His people Jacob
was made the portion of the Lord, Israel the cord of His
inheritance.”3509
And again, at Lystra of
Lycia (Lycaonia), when Paul was with Barnabas, and in the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ had made a man to walk who had been lame from his
birth, and when the crowd wished to honour them as gods because of the
astonishing deed, he said to them: “We are men like unto you,
preaching to you God, that ye may be turned away from these vain idols to
[serve] the living God, who made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all
things that are therein; who in times past suffered all nations to walk
in their own ways, although He left not Himself without witness,
performing acts of goodness, giving you rain from heaven, and fruitful
seasons, filling your hearts with food and gladness.”3510
But that all his Epistles are
consonant to these declarations, I shall, when expounding the apostle,
show from the Epistles themselves, in the right place. But while I bring
out by these proofs the truths of Scripture, and set forth briefly and
compendiously things which are stated in various ways, do thou also
attend to them with patience, and not deem them prolix; taking this into
account, that proofs [of the things which are] contained in the
Scriptures cannot be shown except from the Scriptures themselves.
10. And still further, Stephen, who was chosen the
first deacon by the apostles, and who, of all men, was the first to
follow the footsteps of the martyrdom of the Lord, being the first that
was slain for confessing Christ, speaking boldly among the people, and
teaching them, says: “The God of glory appeared to our father
Abraham, … and said to him, Get thee out of thy country, and from
thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall show thee; … and
He removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell. And He gave him none
inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on; yet He promised
that He would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him.
… And God spake on this wise, That his seed should sojourn in a
strange land, and should be brought into bondage, and should be
evil-entreated four hundred years; and the nation whom they shall serve
will I judge, says the Lord. And after that shall they come forth, and
serve me in this place. And He gave him the covenant of circumcision: and
so [Abraham] begat Isaac.”3511
And the rest of his words announce the same God, who was with Joseph and
with the patriarchs, and who spake with Moses.
11. And that the whole range of the doctrine of the
apostles proclaimed one and the same God, who removed Abraham, who made
to him the promise of inheritance, who in due season gave to him the
covenant of circumcision, who called his descendants out of Egypt,
preserved outwardly by circumcision—for he gave it as a sign,
that they might not be like the Egyptians—that He was the Maker
of all things, that He was the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that He
was the God of glory,—they who wish may learn from the very words
and acts of the apostles, and may contemplate the fact that this God is
one, above whom is no other. But even if there were another god above
Him, we should say, upon [instituting] a comparison of the quantity [of
the work done by each], that the latter is superior to the former. For by
deeds the better man appears, as I have already remarked;3512
| 3512 Book ii. ch. xxx. 2.
| and, inasmuch as these men have no works of their father to
adduce, the latter is shown to be God alone. But if any one,
“doting about questions,”3513
do
imagine that what the apostles have declared about God should be
allegorized, let him consider my previous statements, in which I set
forth one God as the Founder and Maker of all things, and destroyed and
laid bare their allegations; and he shall find them agreeable to the
doctrine of the apostles, and so to maintain what they used to teach, and
were persuaded of, that there is one God, the Maker of all things. And
when he shall have divested his mind of such error, and of that blasphemy
against God which it implies, he will of himself find reason to
acknowledge that both the Mosaic law and the grace of the new covenant,
as both fitted for the times [at which they were given], were bestowed by
one and the same God for the benefit of the human race.
12. For all those who are of a perverse mind, having
been set against the Mosaic legislation, judging it to be dissimilar and
contrary to the doctrine of the Gospel, have not applied themselves to
investigate the causes of the difference of each covenant. Since,
therefore, they have been deserted by the paternal love, and puffed up by
Satan, being brought over to the doctrine of Simon Magus, they have
apostatized in their opinions from Him who is God, and imagined that they
have themselves discovered more than the apostles, by finding out another
god; and [maintained] that the apostles preached the Gospel still
somewhat under the influence of Jewish opinions, but that they themselves
are purer [in doctrine], and more intelligent, than the apostles.
Wherefore also Marcion and his followers have betaken themselves to
mutilating the Scriptures, not acknowledging some books
at
all; and, curtailing the Gospel according to Luke and the Epistles of
Paul, they assert that these are alone authentic, which they have
themselves thus shortened. In another work,3514
| 3514 No reference is made to this promised
work in the writings of his successors. Probably it never was
undertaken. | however, I shall, God granting [me strength],
refute them out of these which they still retain. But all the rest,
inflated with the false name of “knowledge,” do certainly
recognise the Scriptures; but they pervert the interpretations, as I have
shown in the first book. And, indeed, the followers of Marcion do
directly blaspheme the Creator, alleging him to be the creator of evils,
[but] holding a more tolerable3515
| 3515 Most of the mss. read
“intolerabiliorem,” but one reads as above, and is followed
by all the editors. | theory as to his origin, [and]
maintaining that there are two beings, gods by nature, differing from
each other,—the one being good, but the other evil. Those from
Valentinus, however, while they employ names of a more honourable kind,
and set forth that He who is Creator is both Father, and Lord, and God,
do [nevertheless] render their theory or sect more blasphemous, by
maintaining that He was not produced from any one of those Æons within
the Pleroma, but from that defect which had been expelled beyond the
Pleroma. Ignorance of the Scriptures and of the dispensation of God has
brought all these things upon them. And in the course of this work I
shall touch upon the cause of the difference of the covenants on the one
hand, and, on the other hand, of their unity and harmony.
13. But that both the apostles and their disciples thus
taught as the Church preaches, and thus teaching were perfected,
wherefore also they were called away to that which is perfect—
Stephen, teaching these truths, when he was yet on earth, saw the glory
of God, and Jesus on His right hand, and exclaimed, “Behold, I see
the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of
God.”3516
These words he said, and
was stoned; and thus did he fulfil the perfect doctrine, copying in every
respect the Leader of martyrdom, and praying for those who were slaying
him, in these words: “Lord, lay not this sin to their
charge.” Thus were they perfected who knew one and the same God,
who from beginning to end was present with mankind in the various
dispensations; as the prophet Hosea declares: “I have filled up
visions, and used similitudes by the hands of the prophets.”3517
Those, therefore, who delivered up their souls
to death for Christ’s Gospel—how could they have spoken to
men in accordance with old-established opinion? If this had been the
course adopted by them, they should not have suffered; but inasmuch as
they did preach things contrary to those persons who did not assent to
the truth, for that reason they suffered. It is evident, therefore, that
they did not relinquish the truth, but with all boldness preached to the
Jews and Greeks. To the Jews, indeed, [they proclaimed] that the Jesus
who was crucified by them was the Son of God, the Judge of quick and
dead, and that He has received from His Father an eternal kingdom in
Israel, as I have pointed out; but to the Greeks they preached one God,
who made all things, and Jesus Christ His Son.
14. This is shown in a still clearer light from the
letter of the apostles, which they forwarded neither to the Jews nor to
the Greeks, but to those who from the Gentiles believed in Christ,
confirming their faith. For when certain men had come down from Judea to
Antioch—where also, first of all, the Lord’s disciples were
called Christians, because of their faith in Christ—and sought to
persuade those who had believed on the Lord to be circumcised, and to
perform other things after the observance of the law; and when Paul and
Barnabas had gone up to Jerusalem to the apostles on account of this
question, and the whole Church had convened together, Peter thus
addressed them: “Men, brethren, ye know how that from the days of
old God made choice among you, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear
the word of the Gospel, and believe. And God, the Searcher of the heart,
bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as to us; and put no
difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now
therefore why tempt ye God, to impose a yoke upon the neck of the
disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we
believe that, through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are to be
saved, even as they.”3518
After
him James spoke as follows: “Men, brethren, Simon hath declared how
God did purpose to take from among the Gentiles a people for His name.
And thus3519
| 3519 Irenæus
manifestly read οὕτως for τούτῳ, and in this he
agrees with Codex Bezæ. We may remark, once for all, that in the
variations from the received text of the New Testament which occur in our
author, his quotations are very often in accordance with the readings of
the Cambridge ms.
| do the words of the prophets agree, as it is written, After this
I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is
fallen down; and I will build the ruins thereof, and I will set it up:
that the residue of men may seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles,
among whom my name has been invoked, saith the Lord, doing these
things.3520
Known from eternity is His work to
God. Wherefore I for my part give judgment, that we trouble not them who
from among the Gentiles are turned to God: but that it be enjoined them,
that they
do abstain from the vanities of idols, and from
fornication, and from blood; and whatsoever3521
| 3521 This addition is also found in Codex
Bezæ, and in Cyprian and others. | they wish not to be done to
themselves, let them not do to others.”3522
And when these things had been said, and all had given
their consent, they wrote to them after this manner: “The apostles,
and the presbyters, [and] the brethren, unto those brethren from among
the Gentiles who are in Antioch, and Syria, and Cilicia, greeting:
Forasmuch as we have heard that certain persons going out from us have
troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be
circumcised, and keep the law; to whom we gave no such commandment: it
seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men
unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul; men who have delivered up
their soul for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have sent therefore
Judas and Silas, that they may declare our opinion by word of mouth. For
it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater
burden than these necessary things; that ye abstain from meats offered to
idols, and from blood, and from fornication; and whatsoever ye do not
wish to be done to you, do not ye to others: from which preserving
yourselves, ye shall do well, walking3523
| 3523 Another addition, also found in the Codex Bezæ, and in
Tertullian. | in the Holy Spirit.” From all these
passages, then, it is evident that they did not teach the existence of
another Father, but gave the new covenant of liberty to those who had
lately believed in God by the Holy Spirit. But they clearly indicated,
from the nature of the point debated by them, as to whether or not it
were still necessary to circumcise the disciples, that they had no idea
of another god.
15. Neither [in that case] would they have had such a
tenor with regard to the first covenant, as not even to have been willing
to eat with the Gentiles. For even Peter, although he had been sent to
instruct them, and had been constrained by a vision to that effect, spake
nevertheless with not a little hesitation, saying to them: “Ye know
how it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company with,
or to come unto, one of another nation; but God hath shown me that I
should not call any man common or unclean. Therefore came I without
gainsaying;”3524
indicating by these
words, that he would not have come to them unless he had been commanded.
Neither, for a like reason, would he have given them baptism so readily,
had he not heard them prophesying when the Holy Ghost rested upon them.
And therefore did he exclaim, “Can any man forbid water, that these
should not be baptized, who have received the Holy Ghost as well as
we?”3525
He persuaded, at the same
time, those that were with him, and pointed out that, unless the Holy
Ghost had rested upon them, there might have been some one who would have
raised objections to their baptism. And the apostles who were with James
allowed the Gentiles to act freely, yielding us up to the Spirit of God.
But they themselves, while knowing the same God, continued in the ancient
observances; so that even Peter, fearing also lest he might incur their
reproof, although formerly eating with the Gentiles, because of the
vision, and of the Spirit who had rested upon them, yet, when certain
persons came from James, withdrew himself, and did not eat with them. And
Paul said that Barnabas likewise did the same thing.3526
Thus did the apostles, whom the Lord made witnesses of every
action and of every doctrine—for upon all occasions do we find
Peter, and James, and John present with Him—scrupulously act
according to the dispensation of the Mosaic law, showing that it was from
one and the same God; which they certainly never would have done, as I
have already said, if they had learned from the Lord [that there existed]
another Father besides Him who appointed the dispensation of the law.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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